A/N: Characters may be OOC here... I've been awake for 16 hours now and this story is as more for me than anything else...

There were a few things in life that Peter was good at; he was a top student at school, he liked to think he was a decent superhero, after all the messes May made in the kitchen he was great at cleaning, likewise he could also make a few meals without burning their apartment down, he was even pretty confident in his money management skills...

But his one true weakness... Time management.

Peter honestly hadn't meant to stay out all night... He really tried to be back at the Compound by three and hope that Friday wouldn't rat him out. But it was just one thing that lead to another and next thing he knew it was long past three-am when he finally made it back to the Compound.

This wasn't the first time he had stayed out all night either. Working with two hours of sleep on a school night was not ideal... At least he was able to get three hours on the weekends! His body had been dragging lately though, slowing down and responding sluggishly. Even he knew that it was dangerous for him to keep going like this, but he just couldn't find a way to stop. How could he stop when he knew that people were getting hurt every second he wasn't out there?

Climbing up the side of the Compound and towards his bedroom window, Peter had a brief thought of why Friday hadn't ratted him out to Mr. Stark yet? Surely she could tell that he was crawling on the outside of the building at an hour that was long past his curfew... Maybe Karen had talked her into the whole 'snitches get stitches' thing.

Smiling to himself, he pushed open his window and hopped inside. He pulled off his mask and turned around to toss it on his bed, but ended up muffling a scream as he jumped into the air and stuck to the ceiling - eyes wide and breathing heavy as he stared at Tony Stark leaning against his desk.

"M-Mr. Stark," Peter panted, letting out a shaky breath as he lowered himself back to the ground slowly. "What - What are you doing here? In my room? At-" Taking a quick glance at the clock as if he didn't know what time it was, "-Five in the morning?"

Tony's arms were crossed over his chest, a single eyebrow raised in a look that Peter could only describe as instant death if he said the wrong thing. While Peter didn't see this look often, he definitely knew it wasn't good. This look could mean countless bad things for him... Groundings, having his suit taken away, new protocols in place; horribly bad things.

Taking a deep breath, Tony glanced down at Peter's desk in feigned innocence as he picked up a pen. "Peter, do you know what time your curfew is?" 

"...Two-AM."

"And remind me what time is it now?"

Peter gulped slightly, "Five."

"I see..." He twirled the pen in his hand before placing it back on Peter's desk and looking up at the teen with slightly narrowed eyes. "So where were you?"

Peter's brain whirled with all the things he could say - should say. He should tell the truth - but then he'd get grounded or have the suit taken away... He could say that he heard something outside - but that would cause a panic to go through the Compound. He could always mention someone else, that would take most of the heat away from him... Thinking fast, he grasped onto the first name that popped into his mind. "I was with Loki."

Tony nodded slightly, seeming to consider it. "Hm. I suppose that could make sense. What were you doing with Loki?"

The joy that his excuse was believed was short lived, having to fight off a frown as he quickly said the next thing that came to mind. "He wanted to go... see... fireflies."

When Tony's eyebrow rose again, Peter nearly cursed himself. Couldn't he have thought of something more believable and less stupid? Why did he say fireflies? It wasn't even firefly season!

"Fireflies, huh...? You sure about that?"

Screw believable or not, this was Peter's lie and he was going to stick with it. A good captain always goes down with his ship! "Yep."

A sudden brightness assaulted his vision, quickly closing his eyes and taking a step back. Why on earth would Friday-

"Want to try that again?" A smooth and dreaded voice asked, Peter suppressing a groan as he slowly opened his eyes to see Loki leaning against his wall with a hand on his light switch.

"The truth, now, before we really get angry," Tony said, his head tilting slightly as his eyes narrowed more. "Unless you want to be grounded?"

Peter sighed as he went to sit on his bed. "I was out patrolling - but I had to do it! There's been a lot of crime lately and I couldn't just give up on everyone! Not when I could do something to help! You know that I have to-"

"What good are you to the people dead?" Loki's interrupted question silenced Peter, drawing the boy's wide eyes to him. "Peter, do you truly think we are as blind and naive as you hope? Stark and I have both seen the way you have been acting recently; you're slow and sloppy, almost causing a fire in the labs last week and nearly trapping yourself inside it. What if you faced an enhanced like that? They would kill you within the first minute. You constantly say you have the power to save people, don't let such a power go to waste simply because you aren't getting proper sleep."

Peter stared at him, blinking slowly as he took those words in. He hated to admit it, but Loki definitely had some truth in that... He had noticed his body slowing down, and he did know he was pushing himself past limits he never tried to reach before. But if someone got hurt because he wasn't there...

"Stop that-" Tony commanded, pointing a finger at Peter as he stood up straight. "Stop putting the welfare of everyone on yourself, because that's not going to end well for anyone. You are never going to save them all - that's impossible even for us adults. There will always be someone that you can't reach in time. If you keep on the thought-path that you're on right now, you will work yourself into a downward spiral. A downward spiral that's even worse than what you're on right now. Pete, you can't keep doing this to yourself... Trust me, that's not a good place for you to be."

Peter glanced between the two of them, picking at the bedspread as he thought. He knew that they were right... He hated to admit it, but he knew it. He had seen a lot of Tony-Anti posts online to know that even Tony hadn't been able to save everyone in the battles he was in, and even Loki had admitted to losing a few comrades in his Asgardian battles in the past... But Peter just didn't want to believe it. He couldn't. He had to-

"Fight the thought if you want," Tony sighed, "but I'm still grounding you and taking the suit for the next two weeks."

Peter's eyes widened as he looked up at them, "What? No, Mr. Stark, you can't!"

"And we're telling your aunt," Loki scowled, pure horror crossing Peter's face.

"No... No, please! You can't tell her!"

"I'm sorry," Loki shook his head, "But if you aren't going to willingly stay out of trouble, then what other choice do we have?"

Sighing in defeat, Peter flopped back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Was he pouting? Yes. Was it immature? Yes. Did he care? Not at all. His sleep deprived mind was convinced that they were the ones in the wrong, almost as if they were betraying him. He expected some kind of punishment, but all three of these things was just uncalled for!

Tony took a step to him and patted his leg almost awkwardly, "Just... try to get some sleep, kid."

Peter didn't answer, turning over on his side and away from them. He heard Tony sigh as he left the room, but didn't move from his position. He could still hear Loki's quiet breathing from the far wall... 

It was quiet between the two for a while, neither of them doing anything to start a conversation. Though Peter really wished that Loki would get tired soon and leave because the side he was laying on was really sore from a fight he had been in earlier... But he knew better. Loki had a reason for staying behind and wouldn't leave until that reason was fulfilled.

After what felt like forever, Peter became too twitchy under Loki's constant gaze and decided that he would be the one to cave first. If he didn't, he might just go crazy from the holes being bore into his back. "Are you just going to stand there and watch me all day?"

He was met with silence, causing Peter to frown. He rolled slightly, peeking over his shoulder to see that Loki was in fact still there and quietly staring at him. Their eyes locked for a time before Peter rolled back over to continue ignoring him.

"You become easily irritated when you lack sleep, child." Loki finally said, walking over to take claim of Peter's desk chair. "It's not very becoming of you."

Peter would have started to argue, but felt like the silent treatment would work much better. Because even while he was mad at the man, he didn't want to say something he would regret later.

The longer he stayed quiet, the sleepier he became. If he were to open his eyes though, he would have seen the green light coming from Loki's hand and circling around his head - the cause behind his dreams. 

Dreams of him swinging through the city and saving people, of him and his friends doing things together, his favorite TV shows, hanging out with the Avengers, exploring space and the many amazing planet with Loki, dreams that made him happy beyond belief and slip into a deeper sleep than he had had in weeks.

Loki chuckled to himself as he watched Peter sleep. Hopefully when he woke up, with the help of the dreams, he would be in a much better mood.

A/N: A short little... thing... as I try to get back into writing complete chapters. I've been having sort of a block lately and it is far from fun. I recently got into Merlin and have been trying to start a one shot book for that, but I can't seem to finish any chapters! Not there or here! I have 7 drafts for Spider and Snake, 10 drafts for Merlin, and don't even get me started on all the other side projects...! 

So to those that requested something and it hasn't been posted yet, please be patient. I am working on it, but my brain is not wanting to work properly.